Schools

Resources for educators

Whether it is a natural area in which plants tangle and flowers scramble or a more formally designed landscape, a school garden can provide both a source of inspiration and a learning resource that can be integrated through the school. A garden offers a direct way for students to learn about the environment and somewhere they can find a quiet place. Many gardens become a focal point for community engagement, a project that brings families and local businesses together.

Pollinators are easy to incorporate into a school garden. All that is needed is careful choice of plants and provision of nesting or egg-laying sites. Pollinators can be the subject of many lessons. The resources listed on this page will help you plan and design a garden, introduce you to the diversity of insect pollinators, and provide lesson plans and other teaching materials.

Categories:

Online Curricula

The Bug Chicks
The Bug Chicks offer lesson plans, curricula, educational games, enrichment videos, interactive whiteboard activities and more on their website. They also present workshops to students of all ages in the Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA area.

Smithsonian Institution
Plants and Animals: Partners in Pollination
This resource includes a basic explanation of pollination, flower parts, pollinators, and several lesson plan ideas

National Gardening Association
Kids Gardening Curriculum Connections: Perusing Pollination Partners
This site contains curriculum for the classroom and plant ideas

The Power of Pollinators
Materials and resources to teach gardeners and naturalists about pollination, pollinators and every gardener’s role in pollinator conservation. Each module contains slides, notes and resources to help educators spread the word about pollinators.

Citizen Monitoring

If you have an existing garden at your school, these Citizen Science projects may help you use your garden to teach about pollination and participate in a larger study

Bumble Bee Watch
Bumble Bee Watch is a collaborative effort to track and conserve North America’s bumble bees. This citizen science project allows for individuals to upload photos, have identifications verified by experts, learn about bumble bees, and connect with other citizen scientists. This information helps researchers determine the status and conservation needs of bumble bees and locate rare or endangered populations of bumble bees. Sign up today!

Streamlined Bee Monitoring Protocol
Developed the University of California, Davis, Rutgers University, Michigan State University, and The Xerces Society, this guide provides instructions for assessing pollinator habitat quality and diversity by monitoring native bees. It was developed for conservationists, farmers, land managers, and restoration professionals to document how native bee communities change through time in pollinator habitats. It includes an introduction to bee identification, a detailed monitoring protocol, and data sheets for different habitat types.

The Great Sunflower Project
This project involves growing sunflowers and monitoring the bees that visit them. The website includes detailed information on native bee identification.

Pennsylvania Citizen-Scientist Bee Monitoring Guide
An instructional handbook for native bee survey efforts, used by the Penn State Master Gardener Program. The handbook assists users in identifying native bees to broad morphological categories for assessing general pollinator abundance and diversity. Developed in collaboration with the Xerces Society, this guide is useful in identifying broad groups of bees throughout the Northeastern U.S.